Last month, congressional leaders unveiled their Affordable Care Act repeal bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Under this proposed legislation, dramatic cuts to the Medicaid program will prevent schools from providing comprehensive services for students. NASSP urges you to contact your senators on this issue by participating in our newest action alert. Last week, Senate leadership postponed a vote on this bill due to a lack of votes to secure its passage. This shows that our efforts are working! Now is the time to keep the pressure on your senators by asking them to oppose this bill that would prove so harmful for the nation’s most vulnerable children!Decisions on Position Statements

Last week, the NASSP Board of Directors approved a new position statement on Teacher Shortage. The board also approved new statements based around teacher leadership, privatization, and teacher quality. As these statements are drafted and go through the approval process, NASSP will be seeking your opinions and suggested edits. Keep an eye on future Advocacy Updates for more information!

Inside the Beltway

What’s Happening in Washington?

Congress returns this week with only three weeks left until their August recess. Congressional leadership has several policies that they’re hoping to complete or make some headway on before recess. This includes passing a budget; repealing and replacing Obamacare; and movement on tax reform. Once they return from recess, Congress will have a very limited amount of time to pass a budget resolution to continue funding the government after September 30.

Why Should Principals Care?

These different policies will all play an important role in shaping education policy moving forward. We noted the detrimental effects of the new health care bill earlier. With regard to tax reform, Congress must first pass a budget framework. A framework would provide valuable insight into the funding priorities of Congress moving forward. It would also highlight programs that could face reductions in spending, just like Title II did in the FY 2017 omnibus. It is extremely important that constituents like you contact your representatives during these budget talks to inform them that you support programs that aid principals, like Title II and Title IV.

Live from the 2017 National Principals Conference!

The NASSP advocacy team is currently at the National Principals Conference (NPC) in Philadelphia, PA. Wonder what you’re missing? Below is a breakdown of advocacy focal points at this year’s conference. For more information and updates from advocacy, follow Director of Advocacy Amanda Karhuse (@akarhuse), Manager of Advocacy Zach Scott (@zachscott33), or #PrincipalsAdvocate on Twitter. You can follow all of the conference action at #NPC17.Opportunity to Influence: Principal’s Advocacy on ESSA

NASSP has collaborated with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) to provide a session to help principals understand core areas of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and how to take meaningful action to influence the state and local planning process. Principals will learn effective advocacy tactics by engaging with a panel of speakers who will share insight on state and local ESSA plans and stakeholder engagement, while also hearing directly from the NASSP and NAESP advocacy teams.

State of American Education

With a new president and U.S. secretary of education, several contentious debates continue to emerge regarding a growing school choice movement, questions about the appropriate federal role in education, a looming educator shortage crisis, and state implementation of ESSA. To further examine these topics, NASSP and NAESP have arranged a panel of federal and state education professionals who can provide unique perspectives on these timely debates.

As a school leader, have you ever considered using your unique standing to help advocate for your students and school? Want to know what NASSP is focusing on and what you can do to help? This session will be hosted by six members of the NASSP Board of Directors, and it will highlight some of the key policies that NASSP is currently focusing on in its advocacy initiative. After highlighting those issues, attendees will then hear how they can directly shape these policies to better their students and schools.

Advocacy Connection Center

Wondering what is offered between sessions? Head over to the advocacy section of the NPC Connection Center. Here, you can chat with a member of the NASSP advocacy team or some of NASSP’s most accomplished State Coordinators on the role of advocacy. You can also learn how to effectively contact a congressional office to voice your opinion and post directly to social media on your concerns as a principal.